Wrestling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle bantamweight

Men's bantamweight freestyle wrestling at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Date	July 20
Competitors	13 from 3 nations
Medalists
George Mehnert  United States William Press  Great Britain Aubert Côté  Canada

The freestyle bantamweight was one of five freestyle wrestling weight classes contested on the Wrestling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Like all other wrestling events, it was open only to men. The bantamweight was the lightest class, allowing wrestlers of up to 54 kilograms (119 lb). Each nation could enter up to 12 wrestlers.

11 British athletes, 1 American, and 1 Canadian participated.

Competition format

The event was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze medal match between the semifinal losers. The final and bronze medal match were best two-of-three, while all other rounds were a single bout. Bouts were 15 minutes, unless one wrestler lost by fall (two shoulders on the ground at the same time). Other than falls, decisions were made by the judges or, if they did not agree, the referee.

Wrestlers could "take hold how and where they please[d]" except that "hair, flesh, ears, private parts, or clothes may not be seized"; striking, scratching, twisting fingers, butting, and kicking were prohibited. Holds "obtained that the fear of breakage or dislocation of a limb shall induce a wrestler to give the fall" were outlawed, and particularly the double-nelson, hammerlock, strangle, half-strangle, scissors, hang, flying mare with palm uppermost, and the foot twist.

Results

Standings

Place	Wrestler	Nation
1	George Mehnert	United States of America
2	William J. Press	Great Britain
3	Aubert Côté	Canada
4	Frederick Tomkins	Great Britain
5	Fred Davis	Great Britain
	Burt Sansom	Great Britain
	George Saunders	Great Britain
	Harry Sprenger	Great Britain
9	John Cox	Great Britain
	William Cox	Great Britain
	Frederick Knight	Great Britain
	Guy Schwan	Great Britain
	Henry Witherall	Great Britain

Bracket

	First Round			Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final
	Fall (5:27)
	William Press (GBR)
				Fall (8:48)
	Henry Witherall (GBR)
				William Press (GBR)
	Fall (4:31)
				Bruce Sansom (GBR)
	Bruce Sansom (GBR)
							Fall (0:55)
	George Schwan (GBR)
							William Press (GBR)
	Fall (6:31)
							Frederick Tomkins (GBR)
	Frederick Tomkins (GBR)
				Fall (4:57)
	William Cox (GBR)
				Frederick Tomkins (GBR)
	Fall (4:22)
				George Saunders (GBR)
	George Saunders (GBR)
										2–0 (falls 11:45/3:57)
	John Cox (GBR)
										William Press (GBR)
	Decision
										George Mehnert (USA)
	Fred Davis (GBR)
				Decision
	Frank Knight (GBR)
				Fred Davis (GBR)
				Aubert Côté (CAN)
							Fall (6:40)
							Aubert Côté (CAN)
							George Mehnert (USA)			Third place
				Fall (4:01)						2–0 (falls 3:55/8:50)
				Harry Sprenger (GBR)						Aubert Côté (CAN)
				George Mehnert (USA)						Frederick Tomkins (GBR)

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Freestyle Wrestling 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 28 May 2006.